Okay I just typed this whole question out and then managed to delete it. Sigh. Anyway, standard disclosure that I have searched everywhere and banged my head on the keyboard and can't figure this out.
I'm building a basic app based on the utility application template (with a MainViewController and FlipsideViewController). Side note: I still don't understand the purpose of MainView and FlipsideView in this scheme so if someone can explain it that wouldn't be too terrible :D
Anyway, at the bottom of both of these views I want to have a toolbar. It was easy enough to add that to a given view with IB, but I want the toolbar to have its own controller and model because I want to keep its state consistent across the two views. Accordingly I'd like to load that view from a nib but it seems I'm doing something wrong. I followed the advice here: NSViewController and multiple subviews from a Nib but obviously borked it up so more insight would be appreciated.
I did the following things:
I created ToolBarViewController which is basically empty but is the file owner of ToolBar.xib. Inside ToolBar.xib I have a view with a frame the size of the toolbar and inside that a toolbar. In MainView.xib I've got a view element of the same size which is wired up to toolBarView found in the code below...
In MainViewController.h:
#import "ToolBarViewController.h"
#interface MainViewController : UIViewController <FlipsideViewControllerDelegate, MKMapViewDelegate> {
...
ToolBarViewController *toolBarViewController;
IBOutlet UIView *toolBarView;
}
...
#property(nonatomic, retain) ToolBarViewController *toolBarViewController;
#property(nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIView *toolBarView;
In MainViewController.m:
#synthesize toolBarViewController;
#synthesize toolBarView;
- (void)loadView
{
[super loadView];
toolBarViewController = [[ToolBarViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"ToolBar" bundle:nil];
[[toolBarViewController view] setFrame:[toolBarView frame]];
[[self view] replaceSubview:toolBarView with:[toolBarViewController view]];
}
When I build and run I get the warning for the last line above that 'UIView' may not respond to 'replaceSubview:with' and on running it the following exception is thrown:
*** -[MainView replaceSubview:with:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x450c540
Can anyone explain what I'm doing wrong? Thanks!å
There is no such method as [UIView replaceSubview:with:]. That's an NSView method. You should have gotten a warning about this when you compiled.
To do the same thing, you'd need to use [[self view] insertSubview:aboveSubview:] and then [toolbarView removeFromSuperview].
That said, I'm not certain if this is how you want to mess with the toolbar. I'd probably try something more like:
self.toolbarItems = [toolbarViewController toolbarItems];
That's because there's no such UIView's replaceSubview:with: (there's a method like that for NSView on the Mac, though).
Remember that Objective-C warnings are usually errors ;) in general I tend to never leave them without treatment, and I even turn them into errors:
http://akosma.com/2009/07/16/objective-c-compiler-warnings/
Related
Every video tutorial and book I have read displays the following code to add a UIView to the UIWindow.
[window addSubview:self.viewController.view];
My understanding of the above code is that a "View" (which is an instance of a UIView) is added to the window (Which is an instance of UIWindow). Let me break it down (According to my understanding):
window (UIWindow)
addSubview (method to add a View to a window)
Self.viewController.view (simply returns an instance of a "view" which is already instantiated within the UIViewController class.
The first problem I have is that I could not find the method "addSubview" in the UIWindow class reference document on apples site. However somebody kindly pointed out to me that UIWindow inherits addsubview method from UIView. thats all fine, but why do all the book and online documents state that the addsubview method adds a view to the window - but how can that be? really confused. Can somebody please explain step by step what this code is doing? If UIWindow inherits the addsubview method of UIView then how can it go back up the inheritance tree? really lost. What I really need is small example code with diagrams of what is happening step by step. would be REALLY greatfull. many thanks
Think of a window as a view that's associated directly with a screen or drawing object.
In the above example window.view is not correct. a window does not contain a view, it is a view with additional behavior.
Assuming that you are loading a UIViewController from a NIB file, the view associated with the viewController will be instantiated by accessing the view. So ...
You might see code like
MyViewController *vc = [MyViewController alloc]initWithNibName:#"MyNibFile" bundle:nil]autorelease];
[window addSubView:vc.view];
[window makeKeyAndVisible];
View is simply a super class of Window so any public view method is available to you.
Generally the window in your AppDelegate object is instantiated when the MainWindow.xib file is loaded.
You should see something like
#property(nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIWindow *window;
in your AppDelegate header file . (The IBOutlet directive tells the initialize the window object when the nib file is loaded.
Just remember, a UIWindow is simply a UIView with additional behaviors and data.
Hope this helps.
"However somebody kindly pointed out to me that UIWindow inherits addsubview method from UIView. thats all fine, but why do all the book and online documents state that the addsubview method adds a view to the window - but how can that be? really confused. Can somebody please explain step by step what this code is doing? If UIWindow inherits the addsubview method of UIView then how can it go back up the inheritance tree?"
That's it. I think you are not understanding what inheritance is. The metaphor is "is a". A UIWindow "is a" UIView. It has everything a UIView has, and more. One thing a UIView has is the ability to addSubview. Therefore a UIWindow has that ability too. It doesn't need any other UIView to do it for it. It is a UIView. It can do it itself.
try
[window.view addSubview:self.viewController.view];
That is off the top of my head, so it may not be completely accurate.
I am pretty new to iPhone programming, and was playing around with an app yesterday trying different scenarios with view controllers and nib files. So, I started a new app with a FirstViewController (FVC for short) and an FVC.xib.
I layed out a quick view in FVC.xib and ran the app - view displays, great.
I now wanted to have a second view I could add on top of the main view. So I went ahead and created SecondViewController.xib (SVC) but did not create the .m and .h files. I went about trying to load both these views from the same view controller, and here is where my question lies:
I created a button in FVC.xib and created an IBAction like this:
- (IBAction)loadSVC {
FirstViewController *viewController = [[FirstViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"SecondViewController" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
secondView = viewcontroller.view;
[viewController release];
[self.view addSubView:secondView];
}
So this works great and adds the contents of SVC.xib, but when I try and remove that view from the superview, the app crashes:
[secondView removeFromSuperview];
If I actually create a view controller for SVC, use that to instantiate my view in FVC, and move the remove code to the SVC:
[self.view removeFromSuperview];
Everything works. My question - I kind of get why my first method crashes, but I was hoping someone could explain why and what goes on behind the scenes. I'm still a noob with object oriented programming, so what is actually happening in my first case where I create a new instance of FirstViewController and add its view to self.view? Why can't I release it (I assume because the original view is associated with FirstViewController, and when I create a new instance with the second xib it messes everything up) - I'd love a more technical explanation as to what is happening...
Thanks much!!
EDIT to add more info in response to Nick's reply below
Nick - so your answer did clear my thinking a bit in regards to the retain count, etc... I did another test app trying to get this working from a single view controller - think, for example, that I wanted to display an Alert or Welcome message to the user (I know in a real app there are different methods to accomplish this, but this is more of a learning experience) -- so I have my main view # MainViewController and layout my alert message in a xib called alert.xib -- so there is no logic behind the alert message, no reason for it to have a view controller that I can see, my end goal being loading/unloading this on top of my main view from the main view's view controller (or understanding why it is impossible)
I tried this using instance variables as you recommended:
In MainViewController.h:
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
UIViewController *secondController;
UIView *secondView;
#interface MainViewController : UIViewController {
}
#property(nonatomic, retain) UIViewController *secondController;
#property(nonatomic, retain) UIView *secondView;
- (IBAction)loadSecond;
- (IBAction)removeSecond;
#end
In MainViewController.m:
#import "MainViewController.h"
#implementation MainViewController
#synthesize secondController, secondView;
- (IBAction)loadSecond {
secondController = [[MainViewController alloc] initWithNibName:#"alert" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
secondView = secondController.view;
[self.view addSubview:secondView];
}
- (IBAction)removeSecond {
//I've tried a number of things here, like [secondView removeFromSuperview];, [self.secondView removeFromSuperview];, [secondController.view removeFromSuperview];
}
- (void)dealloc {
[secondController release];
[secondView release];
[super dealloc];
}
So - this works to load the alert view, but the removeSecond button does nothing (I did use NSLog to verify the removeSecond method is fired) - why?
Second, and most importantly - is this even possible, or is it horrible practice? Should every nib/view I am manipulating have their own view controller? Am I wrong to think I could just make a new instance of MainViewController and use it to display and remove this no-functionality, very temporary view? (And yes, I realize I could easily create this view programatically or accomplish the end goal in many different ways which would be easier, but I'm trying to really learn this stuff and I think figuring this out will help...
Thanks for the help!
You created a view controller
You accessed its view which caused controller to create the view and call the delegates (i.e. viewDidLoad)
Controller returns the view that you asked for
Now you add the view as a subview which increases its retain count
Controller is released and it releases the view, BUT since view's retain count was increased the view is still there
You try to remove the view, it is unloaded and delegates are to be called (e.g. viewDidUnload), however that messes up since the controller who created the view is released and that piece of memory is... smth else :)
That's why the first method doesn't work.
The second method is NOT correct either but it works because:
You remove controller's view from superview but since controller itself is not released (you didn't call [self release] or anything like that, not saying that you should :), just an example), then the view didn't reach 0 (zero) retain count and is still there - which means its subviews aren't removed
The proper way to do it is to save the reference to the controller as an instance variable (usually declare a synthesized property), and release it only when you are done with the view, making sure that the view is removed from superview before hand. The default templete for a View Based App shows how view controller should be managed
Hope this helps to understand why both methods behave differently
Based on your clarifications, you don't need secondView property or iVar. Also in your loadSecond instead of secontController = bla you need self.secondController = bla, otherwise you simply assign reference to the iVar instead of going through the setter.
Yes, it's possible to load subviews/other resources from a nib without having a dedicated controller
This is how you do it (one of the approaches):
UIView *result = nil;
NSArray *bundle = [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:#"MyNibName" owner:owner options:nil];
for ( id o in bundle ) {
if ( [o isKindOfClass:[UIView class]] ) {
result = (UIView *)o;
break;
}
}
Here the result will contain the first UIView in MyNibName. You can use other criteria to find out whether you got the view you wanted (tags, types...)
I'm adding a subview to my primary iPad UIViewController, and within that subview I need to reference said view controller in order to play a video using that controller.
Can anyone help me out with the way that should be done, and possibly a code example?
Thank you in advance.
Regards,
Ed
EDIT (A LITTLE BIT MORE INFO):
This subview is a view from a uiviewcontroller class that is designed for the iPhone. It's a table that loads a video when a row is pressed. The movieplayer loads the video within the referenced viewcontroller (which is why I want to reference the iPad view controller from within the subview). The view is basically used within an iPad app in it's same form.
This sounds like an architecture problem. It's not up to your view to tell something to play a sound. That's a controller's job. It's up to your view to tell "someone" that it was touched, or slid, or whatever the user has done. "Someone" (who is watching) will then perform the correct response to that.
To do this, your view should generally take a target, and possibly and action. Look at how UIControl (for example, UIButton) informs other objects that it has been activated. The observer (controller) then reacts accordingly.
EDIT
The view should not load a video. A view controller should load the video and install it into the correct view. The only job the view has is to tell its view controller that it has been pressed. UITableView handles this automatically with the UITableViewDelegate method tableView:didSelectRowAtIndexPath:. If you're not using a UITableView, you should still follow this pattern. The view accepts has a delegate and tells the delegate (controller) that something was selected. Then the controller updates the views with the new data.
You probably already have the main view living in a property of your application delegate (it is commonly assigned via the application's .xib file, look in the app delegate's applicationDidFinishLaunching: method, where it adds the main view as a subview to the window, something like:
[window addSubview:primaryController.view];
[window makeKeyAndVisible];
).
So anywhere in your app where you need to access the main view, you can do:
[(MyAppDelegateType*)([UIApplication sharedApplication].delegate).primaryController somePrimaryControllerMethod];
Edit: while this will work, I agree with Rob Napier that this isn't the best way to do it, architecture-wise.
You could just use [yourSubview superview] to get the superview.
Can't you just add a property to the view like this:
#property (nonatomic, assign) UIViewController *parentViewController;
And on initialization of the view (from within the UIViewController), set the property:
UIView *customView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0.0f, 0.0f, 320.0f, 460.0f)];
customView.parentViewController = self;
And from then on you should be able to call the parentViewController from within the view.
Edit: Rob Napier has a good point, it's probably a better idea to set a target and selector from within the view instead of a view controller. This way you should be able to hook up methods directly with the view. The properties would look like this:
#property (nonatomic assign) id target;
#property (nonatmic, assign) SEL selector;
And perhaps add a designated initializer to your view:
- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)aFrame target:(id)aTarget selector:(SEL)aSelector
{
self = [super initWithFrame:aFrame];
if (self)
{
self.target = aTarget;
self.selector = aSelector;
}
return self;
}
The context: I have three views. One Introductory view, an Upload view and the Main view. As classes (With their respective headers) I have the rootViewController (SwitchViewController), IntroViewController and UploadViewController. The first view to be shown is IntroView. The user presses a button (declared in SwitchViewController) that takes them to the UploadView, then in the UploadView they get to choose an image and press the button again to go back to IntroView.
The thing is that while the user gets to pick the image with UIImagePickerController the button to switch views won't hide nor a UIImageView I have with a logo on top of the view(screen). The UIImageView and the UIButton are both declared in SwitchViewController's header.
The code used:
UploadViewController.h
#import [...] //Imports
#class SwitchViewController;
#interface UploadViewController :
UIViewController <UIImagePickerControllerDelegate,
UINavigationControllerDelegate,UIActionSheetDelegate> {
UITextField *imageTextField;
UIImageView *uploadedImage;
SwitchViewController *switchViewController;
[...]
}
#property (nonatomic, retain) SwitchViewController *switchViewController;
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UITextField *imageTextField;
#property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIImageView *uploadedImage;
[...]
#end
UploadViewController.m
[...]
- (IBAction) selectImageButtonPressed {
self.switchViewController.submitButton.hidden = YES;
self.switchViewController.imageLogo.hidden = YES;
[...] //continues
I just begun recently programming in objective-c so please forgive me if the question is very essential. I have looked and am following "Beginning iPhone 3 Development" of APRESS. But even if it helps to greatly understand the basics sometimes I get lost.
PS: If it is clearer to answer the question the SwitchViewController.h and .m snippet codes can be provided if asked. But I thought this text is big as it is.
#Joze i think I may have understood your problem switchViewController is a variable of the class UploadViewController so if you do anything with that variable it wont affect the switchViewController view. so when you are calling the switchViewController view at that time you have to do initWithNibName: bundle: and then hide the button and imageView and also you need to do something like switchViewController.delegate = self; and then call the view modally or what ever way you want it.
PS. i m not sure the that spelling is correct. i dont have xcode at my home.
I hope your problem solves with this.
I solved my problem after refactoring the whole code and changing the general structure of the program itself. Now I have 3 views and each with a viewController to control it. All the switching of views occurs in the Delegate since he has access to everyone. That way I can control every property with every controller, without much difficulty. Changing the property of one of the objects present in one view from another view is difficult and rather inconvenient if not sometimes impossible.
The approach I took when asking this question was short sighted for the application that had to be done. I thank all those who tried to help.
I am new to the iPhone SDK and am trying to create 3 views and switch between them. Data will come from a server and I will basically be showing 1 view and caching the other two. So far I am just trying to create a view and display it at run-time. My code is listed below. It shows only a blank screen and I think I am missing a key concept. Any Help?
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "ImageViewController.h"
#interface Test5ViewController : UIViewController
{
IBOutlet UIView *rootView;
ImageViewController *curImage;
ImageViewController *nextImage;
ImageViewController *prevImage;
}
#property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet UIView *rootView;
#property(nonatomic,retain) ImageViewController *curImage;
#property(nonatomic,retain) ImageViewController *nextImage;
#property(nonatomic,retain) ImageViewController *prevImage;
#end
and
- (void)loadView
{
self.curImage = [[ImageViewController alloc]initWithNibName:#"ImageView" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
UIImage *pic = [UIImage imageNamed:#"baby-gorilla.jpg"];
[self.curImage assignImage:pic];
self.rootView = self.curImage.view;
}
and
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#interface ImageViewController : UIViewController
{
IBOutlet UIImageView *image;
}
-(void)assignImage:(UIImage *)screenShotToSet;
#property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet UIImageView *image;
#end
Welcome to the iPhone SDK!
In general, there are two ways to get any view displayed.
First, and most commonly, you use a NIB file created by the Interface Builder. This is usually the easiest way to get started and I would recommend it for what you're trying to do here. It's too lengthy to describe all the steps you need to do for what you have here, but basically start in xcode by creating a new file and selecting "user interfaces" and choose View XIB. This will create a basic NIB file (they're called NIBs rather than XIBs for historical reasons). The first step in interface builder is to change the class name of the "File's Owner" to your UIViewController subclass (Test5ViewController). You can then drop anything that IB will allow into the view window or even replace the pre-supplied view object with one of your own. And here's the trick: make sure the view outlet (supplied by the UIViewController superclass) is connected to a view. Once this is done, this view will be automatically loaded when your NIB is loaded. You can then just put your UIViewController subclass (Test5ViewController) in your MainWindow.xib NIB file to get it automatically loaded, and you're in business.
Now, the way you're doing it here is the second way. Some people like to code this way all the time and not user interface builder. And while it's definitely necessary sometimes and always more flexible, it makes you understand what is happening a bit better. There may be other things, but the main thing you're missing is that in your code above, you have nothing that is adding your view into the view hierarchy. You need to check first that you have an UIApplicationDelegate subclass and it needs to load your "root" UIViewController class. All initial project creation types in xcode do this (except Window-based application). It is code like:
[window addSubview:rootController.view];
Once this is done, if your view controller wasn't loaded by the NIB (described briefly above), your loadView method will be called, expecting you to build your own view hierarchy. Above, you created the view(s), but failed to put them in a hierarchy. You need something like:
[self.view addSubview:curImage.view];
No view will be rendered until added to the view hierarchy. Make sure to look up the UIView class in the documentation and understand the variety of ways to add and remove views to the view hierarchy.
A couple things I should warn you about:
* your code above is leaking. You need to review how objective-C properties work. There's lots on this site about it. More than I have time to write about here.
* don't create a rootView property in the case you have here. There already is one in the superclass (UIViewController). It's just 'view'. Use that for saving your root view.
I hope this helps you get started. It can be bewildering at first, but you'll soon get it going! I recommend building and rewriting and rebuilding a lot of sample code before you do your "real" application. The SDK has many great samples.